Game-board



A. C. CURRIE.

1 GAME BOARD. APPLICATION FILED JAN-25, 1!?19- Patented J an. 13

ATTORN EY ALFRED C, CURRIE, OF ST. JOHN, BRUNSWICK, CAN ADA.

- GAME-BQARD.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

. Patented Jan s, 1920.

Application filed January 25, 1919. Serial No. 273,089.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED C. CURRIE, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at St. John, in the Province of New Brunswick, Dominion of Canada, have invented a new and useful Game-Board, of which the followin is a specification.

This invention has reference to game boards, and its object is to provide a game requiring a board and a number of devices by means of which circumscribed areas may be divided or fenced off by two or more players during the progress of the game.

In accordance with the invention, the board has its playing surface provided with rows of slots or receptacles into which tongues formed on the playing devices may be inserted and as these playing devices are intended to serve as closures for circumscribed areas the devices may and will hereinafter be termed gates.

In the simplest form of game board the slots or receptacles are arranged in series of rows lengthwise and crosswise of the board so that the circumscribed areas will form small squares or rectangles. The gates are of suitable size and shape to be readily grasped by the fingers and to project above the playing surface of the board, while each gate has a tongue or projection adapted to enter a slot which thereby becomes a seat or receptacle for the tongue holding the gate onto the face of the board in fixed position.

The invention will be best understood from a consideration of the following de tailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification, with the understanding, however, that the invention is not confined to any strict conformity with the showing of the drawing, but may be changed and modified so long as such changes and modifications mark no material departure from the salient features of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

In the drawing Figure 1 is a plan view of a game board embodying the invention, with some of the gates in place.

Fig. 2 is a section on the line '2-2 of Fig. 1. F Fig. '3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 4c is a perspective View of one of the gates.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a device or counter for deposition in a completed inclosure, indicating the player completing such inclosure.

Referring to the drawing, there is shown a board 1 which, in general outline, may correspond to game boards as used for V3.4 rious games, the body of the board being separated into two parts by a central cross division 2 which may be backed up by a flexlble strip 3, preferably of cloth, whereby the two parts of the board may be readily folded one on the other for storage and transportation, after the usual custom. Any other suitable means for the purpose may be adopted. The two members of the board.

have blocks or legs 4 fast to-the under faces so that the board may be slightly elevated above a sustaining surface, although this feature is not obligatory.

The board is provided with slots or seats 5, these slots being shown as somewhat elongated and extending entirely through the board, although such particular arrange ment is not obligatory. In the showing of the drawing the face of the board is laid off regularly into numerous squares 6 by the slots 5 which are equidistantly spaced and arranged in rows extending lengthwise and crosswise of the board. Of course other arrangements'may be provided but the division of the playing surface of the boardinto numerous squares regularly disposed isto be preferred. In the particular showing of the drawing, eighty squares are indicated, but

any other suitable number may be provided, either greater or less than eighty. The division 2 separates the playing surface into two groups of forty squares each with a slight space between the two groups necessitated by the presence of the hinge. If the board be made of one piece the particular divided arrangement of the need not be followed.

There are provided a suitable number of playing devices 7, one of Which is shown separately in Fig. 4. These devices may be in the form of flat blocks each with a head portion 8 of rounded, or other conformation,

with an elongated engaging edge 9 designed to rest directly upon the board, and extending from the edge 9 incentralized relation thereto is a tongue 10 of a size. to snugly fit any one of the slots 5. The tongue may be long enough to extend entirely through a playing surface slot 5 and beyond the reverse face of the,

board f r a shortdistance to provide a In playing the game, the player who is i to lead places a block or gate 7 in any chosen one of the slots 5. The other player then follows by placing a block or gate 7 in any other chosen one of the slots It is the object of the game to complete squares define-d by four of the gates and the player who succeeds in completing a square then places a counter 11 therein. It is the object of each player to complete as many squares as possible and to catch the opposing player off his guard. With certain exceptions each gate may constitute one side of twosquares, the exceptions being gates placed. in the marginal slots 5 of the board or along the d'1v1- sion 2.

Each player may be provided with half as many gates as there are slots in the board, or the supply ofgates may be common to both players, with the placing of the gates alternating between the two players. The player who completes the greatest number of squares wins the game, or the game may be arranged between the two players so that the player who completes a certain chosen number of squares before the other will win the game.

For young people the game is both instructive and interesting in that it teaches them to puzzle out for themselves ways and means of overcoming-an opponent. The game may be played without the use of the counters 11, the tally being kept with pencil and paper.

- The game board may be made of cardboard or other suitable material, and the gates and counters may be made ofwood, or cardboard, or the like.

It is not essential that the seats for the tongues be in the form of slots, nor that the gates be provided with tongues, such as shown, since any suitable arrangement may be provided by which projecting parts of the gates enter the playing surface to hold the gates in position thereon in the direction of the lines of seats.

In order to increase the difficulty and therefore the interest of the game, certain of the squares may be given arbitrary values. For instance, with an eighty-square board, any four of the squares may be given a value of five each and any other four of the squares may be given a value of two each. This would leave seventy-two squares of a value of one each. The total score will then .count of twenty, four squares of a value of two each, making a count of eight, and twenty-three squares of a value of one each, making a count of twenty-three, or a total of fifty-one.

What is claimed is 1. A game board provided with longitudinal and crosswise rows of elongated the example slots or seats, and playing devices or gates each having a tongue adapted to any one of the slots or seats, the playing device and the tongue being elongated similarly to the slots, with the playing devices longer than the tongues or slots, whereby the playing devices may be so placed on the boardas to form inclosures.

2. A game board having an unobstructed I playing surface provided with rows of elongated seats extending lengthwise and crosswise of the board in intersecting relation so that the circumscribed areas form squares or rectangles, and playing devices or gates each comprising a block of a size to be grasped by the fingers and form one side of the square or rectangle, and having a part adapted to fit in the seat for holding the gate in a seat in line therewith, whereby the gates may be ultimately arranged by the players 'in the form of inclosures.

.3. A game board. having a playing surface free from obstruction and provided with rows of seats with the rows in intersecting relationand the seats of each row spaced apart so that the circumscribed areas form squares or rectangles, and playing devices or gates having tongues adapted to engage the seats to locate the gates on the game board in projecting relation to the playing surface, with each gate forming one side of a square or rectangle, whereby the playing devices or gates in the seats in. sufiieient number will form inclosures. I

4. A game boardhaving a playing surface free from obstruction and provided with rows of seats with the rows in intersecting relationand the seats of each row spaced apart, and playing devices or gates having extensions adapted to the seats to locate the gates on the game board-in projecting relation to the playing surface, whereby placing devices in juxtaposition and in, suflicient number will form inclosures, said playing devices or gates being elongated in the direction of the rows of seats.

5. A game board formed of two arts hinged together crosswise of the boar and provided with longitudinal and crosswise rows of seats formed in the body of the 1 board, with the seats elongated in the direcplaying devices in the form of blocks having projections adapted to the seats to lodge 10 therein, whereby the playing devices constitute inclosures for circumscribed areas corresponding to those defined by the seats.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as my own. I have hereto aflixed my signa: ture.

ALFRED o. CURRIE.

Witnesses: I

CLARENCE S. CULVER, BERTHA Rmb. v 

